New York Giants legend Eli Manning expects his “Manningcast” teammate, Bill Belichick, to do a “great job” with the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The 72-year-old coaching great took the head coaching job with the Tar Heels, marking his first time coaching the college ranks. Although Belichick will be taking on a “new” challenge in trying to build a powerhouse out of a solid program that’s never been at that level, Manning expects his former NFL rival to do a great job.
“I’m excited for him” says Manning in a one-on-one interview on behalf of his partnership with Verizon while promoting their Super Bowl FanFest. “He’s one of the greatest coaches of all time and I’m excited for him to go into college. It’s a new experience for him, I know he’ll do a great job, build a great culture and get his team playing at a high level.”
Belichick is arguably the greatest football coach of all time, winning more Super Bowls as a head coach (six) than any other in NFL history. In fact, no other coach has more than four Super Bowl wins. That’s not even mentioning the two he won as a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants in the 80’s.
However, building a college football program into a top-tier one is completely different from building a dynasty in the NFL. Belichick will have to recruit young players who are not even legal adults yet and play the role of public relations while keeping boosters and alumni happy.
He’ll also be tasked with keeping his players happy in the NIL and transfer portal era, which often sees star players jump for greener pastures due to money and the allure of a better role with other college programs.
But if there’s anyone that can do it, it’s Belichick, who coached for 49 consecutive years before taking a year off this season.
Eli Manning knows first-hand what kind of genius Belichick is, having competed against his New England Patriots twice in the Super Bowl.
“He’s one of the greatest defensive minds and great coaching minds in the NFL,” says Manning of Belichick. “To get to ask him questions and see how he thinks was really neat for me. I learned a lot about football this past year.”
Although Belichick will be coaching at North Carolina next season, he’ll maintain his role and his appearances on the “Manningcast” during the 2025 season. While Manning isn’t sure exactly how that’ll work, he says they’ll “figure” it out.
“We’ve got one more Manningcast for the playoffs Monday, we have the Rams against the Vikings for that game, he’ll be there with us,” says Manning. “We haven’t talked about next year, I haven’t heard what the plan is. Figured it would be kind of tough to do college football and NFL announcing at the same time, but we’ll figure it out.”
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